LA psych-surf stalwarts Dengue Fever are celebrating 20 years of their expansive-yet-harmonious collective palette. Two decades on from the release of their acclaimed self-titled debut, the six-piece band have kept the party raging with their signature sound: A proprietary blend of Cambodian rock, Afro riffs, garage, surf, and the furthermost reaches of the psychedelic realm.
Ahead of releasing their seventh LP Ting Mong, the band hit KCRW HQ to let us sample the goods in the flesh. Album highlight “Silver Fish” hit the walls of KCRW’s Annenberg Performance Studio so hard that we just had to share it with you.
“For this album we decided to rent a cabin in Joshua Tree, take all of our recording gear out there, plant some seeds, and see what we could grow,” says drummer Paul Smith. “It felt like we were looking for more space in our arrangements. [We were] talking about playing more minimally, slowing things down a little bit. So the desert landscape really played into that… it kind of became our co-producer, so to speak.
“One of the seeds that did bloom nicely is called ‘Silver Fish.’ It ruminates on the idea that we're doomed to make the same mistakes over and over again if we don't learn from our past, or if our past is erased — let's say by a bug that eats paper like a silverfish. Our singer, Nimol, ran with that idea, and put it into a relationship framework. We make the same mistakes, or look for the same things in relationships… so it kind of became more about love, as everything eventually does.”
Dengue Fever’s Ting Mong is out now. Catch the band live when KCRW presents their headlining show at the Lodge Room on Wednesday, Sept. 27.